He can...but that's besides the point. The point is Kovalyov didn't violate the dress code. Whether it's been washed or not is irrelevant. Whether he can't afford a 10 bucks pants is non of our business. Please take the IQ test one more time so we can determine if your score will improve this time.

Bullying him and using racial slurs to that end is despicable behavior and there should be dire consequences for Azmaiparashvili, although I'm pretty sure there won't be any.

Partly because Kovalyov has shown absolutely zero inclination to file an Ethics Complaint against him. If even the victim doesn't care enough do do anything, why on earth would FIDE act?

<Bullying him and using racial slurs to that end is despicable behavior>

If it happened. It sounds like the kind of thing Zurab would do, but there's been no mention of any witnesses to the incident so far.

on Azmaiparashvili
Petrosianic: <why on earth would FIDE act?>

<Dress Code for arbiters, organizers, FIDE official and representatives at FIDE events including Presidential Board meetings, Executive Meetings and Congresses. Business casual (European standards), which means long trousers or pants, shirt, jacket, with or without tie (no t-shirts, no polo, no jeans, no sports shoes or sneakers or slippers, no hats or caps (except for religious reasons) and the equivalent style of dress for women. >

<Any random check of coverage on sites like Chessbase.com shows that jeans and tee shirts are worn by many of the other Grandmasters. One example of this is Grandmaster Aronian’s cat tee shirt, which I will not criticize, but which does seem to me to be no less problematic from a FIDE dress code perspective than Anton’s attire. If it tries to reframe this episode as a question of a dress code which is vaguely formulated and sporadically enforced at this tournament FIDE will make itself look ridiculous and hypocritical to all independent observers. If Anton saw Zurab’s shorts at that September 7th photo opportunity in the presence of both the current World Champion and Georgia's former Women's World Champion, and remembering that there were no warnings or complaints from Arbiters before or after any of the previous four games when he had worn those pants at this World Cup, Anton could be forgiven for not anticipating that there would be a problem if he wore them again for a fifth game.

The future for chess in Canada appeared quite bright based on the performance of Anton up until the moment when Anton was inhospitably abused over his attire. If the Chess Federation of Canada which has been a good citizen of FIDE since the day of its founding can expect this kind of treatment within FIDE for one of its top players, in his shining moment, the brightest moment of his chess career, with the world spotlight upon him, who is then safe? I am certain I don’t need to point out that this has brought a great deal of unfavourable attention to chess and FIDE in the worldwide press coverage. Please do not stoop to explanations which attempt to justify the unjustifiable. We can accept the idea that there can be a dress code for chess competition. Given everything that has gone on before and during this World Cup, we cannot accept that a young Grandmaster deserves to be distracted and insulted moments before a game that is part of the qualification for the World Chess Championship, merely because the organizer doesn't like his pants. If there is to be a dress policy it needs to be clearly enunciated before the tournament and should be enforced for all participants. If chess is going to make inroads in the demographic groups which advertisers crave we must avoid the appearance of ridiculousness which this situation invokes. It is a pity that instead of focusing on the chess that was played we are focusing on a pair of shorts.

I think that a sincere apology to grandmaster Kovalyov from grandmaster Azmaiparashvili for this incident without qualification or blaming the victim of this outburst would be the first step required to move forward from this unfortunate situation. As Hal Bond said in his letter about this incident “Mr Azmaiparashvili's behaviour in this case clearly violated the rules and norms of FIDE.” Please do not send the message to the world at large that this is not the case and this behaviour is within the rules and norms of FIDE.>